[VanillaGorilla]

Sometimes things work out easy. One player enters in 2002, and I had one batter entered by the computer. That batter was Mickey Mantle...enough said, there. Mickey Mantle posts an 11.9 composite score to become the 14th "once in a decade" player to break a 10. 123 seasons in the books, this looks like a nice standard.

Mickey Mantle was the 5th player taken in the 1974 draft by what was to become the powerhouse Cleveland Indians. In 1975 he hit 36 HRs and drove in 106 to win ROY at the age of 18.

By the time he was done playing, in 1996, he had won 5 MVPs and been named to 18 All-Star teams. He batted .301 for his career and tallied 3700 hits, on the nose.

Among those 3700 hits were 856 HRs, the second most in league history, at the time of his induction. He drove in 2359 runs (6th) and scored 2447. He is second to only Rogers Hornsby (2561) in career runs scored.

Mantle drew more bases on balls than any player in league history, 2368. His 2651 strikeouts are also the most ever by a player in the league.

He took his team to the post season an amazing 15 times. He was on 3 WS winners in Cleveland and picked up a fourth as a Baltimore Oriole.

HOF team mates in Cleveland for '76, '77, and '79: Willie Stargell (all), Andy Van Slyke ('77 & 79), and Rogers Hornsby & Larry Doyle('79).

So, in 1979 the Cleveland Indians had THREE once in a decade players plus a 4th and 5th* HOFer. In '79 Hornsby, Mantle, and Stargell hit 35, 46, and 60 HRs, respectively. Doyle pitched in 24 and Van Slyke 7. Oh, and throw in a BTW 42 from Dick McCauliffe and the Indians hit a record 260 HRs that stood until bioenhancers hit the scene on a grand scale.

The 1979 Indians scored 1083 runs, slugged .511, logged 5895 ABs, and cracked 1817 hits. These are all records that still stand as AL bests going into the 2002 season.

In 1978 the Indians won 117 games vs 45 losses and won the AL East by 25 games. They were knocked out in the LCS in 4 games by the second year Seattle Mariners. 117 wins is the most ever by a team in either league.

Mantle became a Free Agent and in 1981 played for the Cubs. In three seasons he never saw the post season in Wrigley. Shocking. In 1981 he did post his best npa OPS+ (anyone here old enough to remember when Wrigley was a hitter's park?) season of 207 as he hit 41 HRs and drove in AND scored 118 while slashing 342/468/601.

He signed with Baltimore and in 1990 won another WS. No other player from that team is in the Hall, yet.

For his career he slashed 301/412/558 for a npa OPS+ of one-freaking-68.

How has the introduction or modern, uhhhhh, training methods affected the books? Mantle's 558 slg is 23rd best, all-time. Two HOFers, Griffey and Ken Williams, are ahead of him on the list. All of the others are currently active. Enough said, there.

The HOF now contains Willie, Mickey and the Duke. The universe is in harmony.

Black Ink: 76 (62)
Gray Ink: 351 (272)
HOFm: 493 (300)
HOFs: 85 (65)

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RL HOFers Rube Waddell and Enos Slaughter, along with no brainer HOFer Craig Biggio, enter the league for the 2002 season.